flowering tiger lily (nymphaea lotus)

[cherdemelle]

Hi, I am lucky enough to have a Tiger Lotus that is currently in bloom. I have had to 'allow' it to come through the top of the tank by moving the lids to the tank sideways slightly.
My question is, once it has flowered, what is the care procedure thereafter. I have consulted the book Aquarium Plants by Peter Hiscock, but not a great deal of info.

The aquarium has been set up for about 4 to 5 yrs. It is a Rena Aqualife 350 origional.
Volume of water 350Litres approx
Filter: Fluval 405
Lighting: 4 t8 tubes that came with the tank. Would like to change to LED, but don't know what is suitable as yet.
Heater temp:26c
CO2: 2 Red Sea Turbo CO2 Bio System (yeast, which are alternated). Water change every 10 to 14 days.
Nitrate-10, Nitrite-0, GH-16d,Kh-6d, PH-6.8The tank is plants are fertilised by 1 tsp of Aqua Carbon, Aqua Nourish & Aqua Nourish+ by AE Design. The plants are additionaly supplimented by an occasional tropica Aquacare capsule tab.
The aqaurium is currently stocked with Bronze(6) & Agassizi(3) corys, Clown Loaches(2), Zebra Loaches(3), False Flying foxes(2), Boesman Rainbows(2 old males), Rummy nosed tetras(5), Cardinals(5), Glowlight Danios(4), Blue tetras(5) Otocinclus affinis(3) and probably about 20 Emperor Tetras, they are constantly breeding.
The tank is heavily planted and the plants have more or less stayed in the same place since the tank was first set up.
I would be most grateful for any advice on the Tiger Lily. Thankyou.

 

[Iain Sutherland]

no images 🙁

 

[cherdemelle]

Sorry about the lack of pics. For some reason they are not opening up. Not entirely sure what I have done wrong.

 

[Skatersav]

Go to imageshack.com, upload the images there, right click on it and copy the image URL. You then paste this URL on the postreply box, but remember that you need the IMG brackets. Hope that makes sense and works.

 

[cherdemelle]

Still can't get the photos to copy and open up on the postreply box. I have tried everything I can think of and followed your instructions regarding imageshack. Help!

 

[BigTom]

You need to copy the image url, not the page url.

 

[cherdemelle]

Thank you so much for posting my pics. Mys husband has just go in and worked out how to do it for me, and I have now edited my origional post with the pics.🙂.

 

[Kristoph91]

That flower is beautiful.
Whats growing in the top left corner of the tank, it looks like riccia? Is it ?

Kris.

 

[cherdemelle]

That flower is beautiful.
Whats growing in the top left corner of the tank, it looks like riccia? Is it ?

Kris.

Thank you for your compliment. 🙂
I believe it is ricia. I do try to anchor it down into the gravel, but it often gets dilodged by the fish. I don't mind though as the Emporer Tetras often spawn in it.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Great flower, I've neglected maintenance on the tank in the lab., but I got at it today and an Anubias, Utricularia gibba and an Aponogeton"crispus" (unbranched spathe, white flower) had all appeared above water level and flowered.

Your fish look really healthy as well, I know I'm biased, but I think fish are mainly happier in "jungles". I also let my Riccia grow in a floating mass, it is all now knotted up with great skeins of Utricularia gibba and odd bits of moss. It definitely isn't aquascaping, but the fish seem to like it, and being at the waters surface encourages the Utricularia into flowering.

<http://www.ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16782>

cheers Darrel

 

[Quetzalcoatl]

Congratulations on the Lotus Flower. Looks fantastic.
Mine grows low to the substrate, and the leaves grow smaller than those that can be seen in your images. I have dwarf lillys growing tall next to the Lotus and these have reached the surface and formed some lovely pads. Don`t know why mine grow this way? Possibly the high lighting.

 

[cherdemelle]

Hi all,
Great flower, I've neglected maintenance on the tank in the lab., but I got at it today and an Anubias, Utricularia gibba and an Aponogeton"crispus" (unbranched spathe, white flower) had all appeared above water level and flowered.

Your fish look really healthy as well, I know I'm biased, but I think fish are mainly happier in "jungles". I also let my Riccia grow in a floating mass, it is all now knotted up with great skeins of Utricularia gibba and odd bits of moss. It definitely isn't aquascaping, but the fish seem to like it, and being at the waters surface encourages the Utricularia into flowering.

<http://www.ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16782>

cheers Darrel

Thank you for your generous comments. I think fish are happier in the 'jungle' style decor. They seem more sucure and more inclined to spawn. I am contantly getting babies from the Emporer Tetras. I try not to disturb the fish too much by fiddling with it. Thats the way I like it. 😀